Bill N HaleyChapter 9
- 3 years ago
- 19
- 0
Deena’s turn:
So we’re on a little excursion.
“Looking at some land,” Bill said.
“Land?” Haley asked. “We’ve talked about building a house, but really? Land?”
“It used to be a crop service.”
“Like crop-DUSTING?” I asked.
“Yep. Old guy shut the business down when he and the equally old guys got overtaken by technology.”
“Technology? What technology?” I asked.
“His dad started the business after World War II with a bunch of war surplus Stearman biplanes. Guys bought complete, flying examples for a couple of hundred bucks apiece. His dad bought dozens, broke ‘em down, put ‘em in storage. Had a lifetime supply of planes and he had mechanics who could take care of ‘em. When they started being less economical, other operators switched to more modern aircraft. He didn’t. He and his buddies just took the money out of the business and retired.”
“And he kept the airfield.”
“He did. Middle of a couple hundred acres or so, so room for the airfield plus several decent house lots.”
“Let’s go see it,” Haley said excitedly. I squealed concurrence.
We walked the place out.
“Y’all turn your heads,” Bill said.
“Why?” I asked.
“Gotta mark my territory,” he said.
“What’s THAT mean?” Haley questioned.
“Gotta mark it. Alpha male marks his territory,” Bill said.
Then it dawned on me. “You’re gonna pee on it!”
“Yep. All four corners,” he laughed.
“Ain’t turning my head, Dad,” I giggled.
“Me neither. Matter of fact,” Haley said, starting to work her jeans down, “I’m joining you.”
I can’t let those two get something on me. That last corner only got a couple of drops – a dribble – but we marked it. It’s ours.
Two weeks later, paperwork was shooting back and forth to back up our gesture. Not ‘ours’ exactly – it belongs to 3Sigma, but you get the idea.
Our part is going to be a long-term lease. We already took the plat for the land, showing the existing runway and buildings, and tentatively penciled in the location for the new roadway and the lots for houses. I hope we can get Carlita to move her bunch here.
Bill’s turn:
I went in one direction, Dave went in another, his trip being a bit deeper into Texas than mine, meaning I get back into town just before three. Go by the office, not that Maddie’s not entirely capable of handling things in my absence.
Driving up the street to our office, I noted a big pickup truck rumbling in the opposite direction, thinking to myself that he’d spent a lot of money for that ‘he-man’ look – big tires, big fender flares, big bumpers. It’s not an uncommon look, but honestly, the worst wilderness most of those trucks see is the Wal-Mart parking lot.
I walked through the front door.
“You just missed ‘im,” Maddie said.
“Who?”
“Guy who dropped off this resume’,” she said, handing it to me. “Grady Denson.” Her nose wrinkled. “Don’t hire ‘im. He stinks. Smoker.”
“Uh, if he’s a competent technician, that’s not gonna disqualify him. We need good techs.”
“Sorry, revered engineer, but the signs ... You could hear his truck when he started it. Romped the throttle a coupla times...”
“Still ... good tech ... Scan it and forward it to Jason. Then we’ll decide if the guy gets a call-back.”
A few minutes later Maddie dropped it on my desk. “Just sent it to Jason. Dunno if he’s in the office today. I didn’t look at his calendar.”
Apparently he was in the office. My phone rang. Direct line.
“Hey, Jase! What’s up?”
“Not ‘no’, but ‘hell, no’.”
“Huh?”
“Grady Denson. I know him by reputation. Dan 2.0’s worked with ‘im. You could send Deena out on a job and get better results...”
“Good to know. I’m just looking over it right now...”
“Yeah, okay ... Says he worked for the company Dan used to work for. Doesn’t say that he was fired, does it?”
“No. Says ‘left for more amenable work environment’. Next employer ... Oh, yeah, they’re amenable to hiring anything with a pulse and a claim to knowledge of Ohm’s Law. And he didn’t stay there too long...”
“Okay. I see that...”
“Yeah,” Jason said. “3Sigma‘s a new name in the game down there. He figured he could fake his way in...”
“So you’re saying he’s not worth putting on the payroll at all.”
“Nope. You know how we work – put one tech on a project during the construction phase, kinda as a technical representative to fill in what our construction manager might not know...”
“Yeah.”
“He can’t do that. Not where we could trust him. And as a number two or three guy, you gotta watch ‘im like hawk. He’s got a rep for pencil-whipping reports. Might be able to get away with that crap in a maintenance environment, but we don’t do maintenance environments. We need a guy who’ll scratch and check to an infinitesimal degree if something doesn’t look right. And I don’t think he even knows what looks right in the stuff we do.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah. Sorry. Look, I got an East Texas guy on a project in North Carolina. He claims the barbecue there is poisoning him. When that job’s over, you get ‘im. And we’ll scrape up a #2 for him for that job outside Marshall.”
“Yeah, that one’s on my mind. Too far. Gonna have to put a couple of techs there.”
“I know. Bill’s got a construction superintendent already there. They’re in civil work now.”
“Okay. So this guy’s not even on the table.”
“Yeah. Dan thought they were gonna have a fist-fight at the old company. Guy’s a serious issue.”
“Good enough,” I said. “So when are you ‘n’ Blondie coming down?”
“Oh, Mom’s pushing hard. Maybe vicinity of Easter.”
“Come down here and we’ll feed you crawfish. They’re in season.”
“You just wanna see Susan freak out,” he laughed.
The story of Susan at her first crawfish boil – “You break ‘em in half an’ suck the heads?!?” – was part of the company record.
“And we’ll get up there and let your Dad barbecue for us...”
“If I can get a couple of clients to show up, 3Sigma gets the bill,” he laughed.
“DO it, bud!” Jason’s good people, as are his folks, and Susan is a complete hoot. She plays that ‘innocent’ angle to a T, for laughs. I personally think she’s as much of a rock as my Haley. Or Deena, who can effect her mom’s prissiness quite well. But I’ve seen THOSE two at a crawfish boil, and I KNOW better.
“I will,” he said.
So I believe Jason. That’s part of the charm of this strange bunch – they’re all what Dad used to term ‘good people’ – not necessarily as spiffy and refined as you’d find in the upper strata of society, but honest, fair, intelligent, moral...
Moral. Like the guy with TWO wives, one of whom had HIS name on her birth certificate. I still think about that sometimes, especially on long drives, but honestly, what can I do, even if I wanted to do something, which I really don’t.
Which one would I give up? Haley? Deena?
Haley was first. So innocent, so inevitable. There was just something RIGHT about Haley.
Or Deena. Love from the day I saw her exiting her mom’s birth canal. All those nights of ‘Bill, your turn to feed ‘er.’ The skinned knees. The holding onto her when her mom was moving her away, and the surprise when she wanted to come live with me and her best friend. And the announcement that if I wasn’t her natural father, then there was a special place she wanted to occupy.
Nope. I couldn’t choose. Didn’t have to, right now. And if situations put us in that particular corner, I’m thinking a group immolation might be on the table. Forever. So YOU tell me what’s ‘moral’. I am. WE are.
The cutie at the front desk, Maddie, I don’t think she has a clue. Two or three days a week, one or the other or both my loves are in the office. Usually it’s for study. The office is a shorter drive than going home. And sometimes we have a technician or two there doing something interesting, which means...
“Boss, I would’ve finished but Haley and Deena...”
“As long as you don’t short the client...”
“I have plenty of time...”
“Do they cause you to do a poor job?”
“That’s just it, dammit. They ask questions. Make me think about what I’m doing and why I’m doing it. Helps ME.”
“You can run ‘em off.”
“Like my little sisters. Just can’t. But if you ever wanted to put one in the field...”
“Can’t,” I said. “Both under eighteen. Federal law.”
“Yeah, I know ... but they’d be great helpers until they passed me up.”
“When they turn eighteen,” I said.
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “Those two. Already in college. When they’re eighteen, they’ll be engineers. That means they’ll be essentially useless,” he snickered.
“There goes your bonus,” I laughed.
“Serious, dude,” he laughed. “I enjoy the questions, you know. Kinda nice, being treated like somebody with special knowledge.”
“Seriously. ‘I’m busy. Ask later’.”
“Maybe one day. Not yet. Let ‘em ask. Besides, if I decide to go back for my degree, I’m gonna ask THOSE two...”
“Be careful. They have a friend with a doctorate in physics who just turned nineteen...”
“No shit?!?”
“Look ‘er up. Cindy Richards, on the company website.”
“I’ll have to pay attention.”
“Need to get you over to Alabama to see what you bought into, buddy.”
He looked at me with a wry eye. “Jason said the same thing. I signed on based on Jason’s rep. You tell me there’s MORE like that?”
“I can’t begin to tell you.”
“Whole place is strange,” he laughed. “I’ve been leaving my door open on the jobsite, hoping I could snag one like Dave did.”
“While you’re wishing, you just as well get yourself a lottery ticket.”
“You need – this place needs interns. Scott picked up Maddie when she was an intern.”
“I HEARD that, Carl Primeaux,” came Maddie’s voice from up the hall. “There’s discussion as to who selected whom, and ‘picked up’ is hardly the term for a delicate and stately courtship.”
“Make that a DUMB intern,” Carl laughed. “Don’t want one smarter’n me.”
Maddie laughed. “If that’s your criteria, you might wanna troll a kindergarten.”
“Bill, Maddie’s making me feel uncomfortable,” he laughed.
Bill’s turn: I’m surely bound for hell. Taboos. I’ve broken too many of them –having sex with fourteen year old girls, two of them now. Haley was just a few days past fourteen when we went to bed together for the first time. And now Deena... Double hell. Deena’s my daughter. Has been for all her fourteen years. For those fourteen years I’ve been ‘Daddy’ and now ‘Dad’, even though at the time of her mom’s impregnation, that woman was not being particularly wifely. I sometimes harbored the...
Bill’s turn: Okay, so the news today is that I went to work this morning knowing that in four days I’d be married. That’s not unheard of for a single guy my age, even where ‘single’ includes ‘divorced’. A bit further out on the curve, though, is the fact that the bride is sixteen and that last night we’d slept together, and this morning after I leave for work, she’s taking our car to go to school. And way out on the curve, we’ve been sleeping together for almost two years, and for most of...
Haley’s turn: We went inside, put the stack of bills on Dad’s ‘business’ desk, and scooted together on the sofa to open the envelope we thought to hold a discovery of our genetic code. We expected that I’m the outsider and Deena and Bill are related – father and daughter, you know... That makes sense. It’s the universe as we understand it. Apparently our knowledge of the universe was the same as the Catholic Church’s understanding of the universe when they faced Galileo. We’re holding...
Deena’s turn: Deena’s horny. I’m in the car with Haley; this afternoon’s schedule calls for us to make a stop at the beautician for haircuts. Horny? I know myself. Two days before my period, that’s MY peak. Haley’s is a few days AFTER hers. Bill? We keep him pretty much worn down, but he’s at HIS horniest when he walks into the house after being out of town overnight. Oh, wait ... I’m supposed to be thinking about my academic progress and intersocial relationships or music and...
Haley’s turn: “Go slow, Deena,” I told her after Bill left for work. We have nine o’clock classes on campus, so we have a little time alone in the house. “We are. I am. We’ve been our own nudist colony for a week. I don’t think I’m getting to him.” “You’re not ‘sposed to get to ‘im,” I said. “We talked. He’s still in ‘dad’ mode with you. We’re all getting relaxed about being nude.” “Yeah,” she replied sadly. “He didn’t get hard once last night. Unless I count that particularly relaxed...
Bill’s turn: Things are getting strange. When you understand that I’m starting from a place where I live in a household with my sixteen year old wife and her best friend, my fourteen year old daughter, and we call that ‘normal’, then ‘strange’ takes on new impact. Now it’s academic. Not ‘academic’ as a descriptive term to denote something that doesn’t affect reality, but rather ‘academic’ as in pertaining to education. I considered myself to be pretty smart. I mean, I AM an engineer, and...
Bill’s turn: I walked into the office at my normal time, that is, half an hour before the ‘official’ start time. Hey, I’m a staff engineer with field functions, so I don’t exactly have to punch a timeclock. I just like to get there early enough to have a cup of coffee, talk with people as they come in, check my email, clean out my distribution box... And answer personal questions. “So, buddy, you actually DID it?” Chuck Reisner, another engineer, asked. “Yep. See? Appropriate jewelry.” I...
Deena’s turn: So we’re home. Haley and I are doing some class work, Dad’s fixing a toilet that needs fixing before we move to the new house. “We’ve talked with Sandy about it,” I said. “We just never came out and said we’re all doin’ it together.” “I know,” Haley replied. “Leaves her room to think what she wants. Or not.” “Well, honestly, our conversation didn’t leave a lot of room for suspicion.” “She’s still our friend. I mean, she could pull back, but she comes over here all the...
Deena’s turn: I love my life. I walk across a college campus. I’m fourteen. I’m supposed to be in middle school with five hundred ‘peers’ on a middle school campus. There, I was one of the herd. Here, I’m a standout. Just before Christmas break, and word has gotten out about the little blonde girl who pops around campus. It’s giggle worthy, though, in a lot of ways. First, I get hit on. College guys, according to Dad, will screw anything, and they’ll lie and prevaricate and promise in...
Bill’s turn: Did anyone ever explain to you that a power plant is noisy and hot? The thing is, there’s a lot of big machinery running, lots of electrical power being generated, which all has to go through conductors, transformers, and control devices. Any time you push current through conductors, you get heat, and big power means big heat, both the waste from the energy going in and losses from the energy going out. And nobody in his right mind would try to cool that mess down to acceptable...
Bill’s turn: Okay, I have to admit it. That whole trip was an interesting experience. The fact that for the trip home, I was ordered into the pilot’s seat of a light plane at the instruction of an eighteen year old redhead with a doctorate in physics just added to the whole surreal experience. Okay, she’s a CUTE redhead, and listening to her speak assuages any fears you’ve ever had about geniuses being socially inept. The fact the two girls in the rear seat, my wife and my daughter, look...
Bill’s turn: Guys, as a general rule, don’t get much out of weddings. This one’s slightly different than a lot of them. First off, no ‘princess for a day’ trying to emulate the nuptials of British royalty. Second, it’s got this age disparity. No, I’m not denigrating that. I have one of those myself and I’m standing next to Dan Richards, who married a fourteen year old. I might’ve been sleeping with a fourteen year old, but we married when she turned sixteen. Now I’m sleeping with another...
Haley’s turn: I suppose that if I talked to MOST people, I’d come off as badly deluded, evil, or just plain wrong. I’d say I don’t care, but I DO care about how people think of me and my family, and right now my immediate family is me and my Bill and my Deena. I just got back into bed. I shouldn’t have drunk that glass of water that close to bedtime, but right now, in the dim light of the darkened room, I see my Bill and my Deena asleep together, and it’s beautiful. I imagine that if I was...
Haley’s turn: Bill’s at work. Deena’s inside the FBO office with her laptop. Me? I’m walking around this airplane, getting ready for a flying lesson. The instructor’s NOT watching me do this part. He’s seen me do it, asked a lot of questions. Knows I’m good with this part. I’m wrapping up the exercise when he’s walking up. “Ready to go?” he asked. “Looks good now. Dunno about after the lesson.” Matt’s been pretty good at this. We’re flying a Cessna 172. It’s about as simple a four-seater...
Deena’s turn: Sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and be an adult, even if you’re only fourteen. We have Sandy with us. And a hotel with a king-sized bed, and nobody offered to put anybody up for the night in the Auburn community, so there’s Bill, sounding all apologetic. “I’m sorry. I must’ve clicked the wrong button when I made the reservation. You DO have a room with two queen beds, don’t you?” “Yessir, we do,” the desk clerk said. “Same price. I see you have one of our...
Bill’s turn: By the time we got left on the apron back at our home airport, a lot of life had changed. First, I was now an engineer with 3Sigma Engineering. My first tasking was to locate suitable facilities for a branch office. Second, I was in possession of a pair of ‘almost’ college students. Possession? One daughter. One wife. Third, I was issued instructions to obtain my medical certificate preparatory to becoming a student pilot. That whole college thing for Haley and Deena,...
Bill’s turn: “Dave Johnson. Can I help you?” the disembodied voice on the phone said. “Maybe. This is Bill Simon.” “Hey, Bill! How’s it going? I’m sorry. I didn’t program you as a contact...” “That’s okay. You probably got tired of me trying to recruit you.” “It’s flattering. What’s up?” “Uh ... Dave, guys don’t usually do this, but I have some relationship questions...” “Haley?” “Yeah...” “Oh gosh, Bill ... Sorry to hear...” “No, no ... It’s just, well, different...” “Wanna get a...
Deena’s turn: “No, Mom, I’m not mad. I just wonder what’s going on. I mean, we were doing every other weekend. I plan around that.” “Did it mess you up?” “Uh, no, I guess not. We went sailing with some friends. They have a boat...” She sighed, loud enough to let me know that this was drama for my sake. “Flying. Sailing. College. Dammit, Deena...” “It’s not a competition, Mom,” I said. “Really. You’re my mom. I love you. Mommies’re forever...” “Baby...” “Mommmm...” with just a hint of a...
Bill’s turn: Well, THAT was fun. Food poisoning. I have isolated a likely error in a roadside stand – one of those food trucks – that I was told had THE definitive taco. Or not. Doesn’t matter. It hit me hard. Hundred and three temperature, my body’s still achy overall. First time I spent away from my girls that wasn’t job-related. I don’t like it. I spent the night drifting, achy, in the hospital. I was released Monday morning, transported home, Haley driving, Deena updating the network...
Haley’s turn: So as college students, Deena and I can FINALLY end up in some of the same classes. It was suggested that we take an elective or two, so we conferred and decided on biology. It’s a science, so there are right and wrong answers, not opinions, and both of us are interested and it’s already in progress. The professor starts to balk until Doctor Seavers explains why it is that she’s getting two students starting a semester in progress and neither of the students is old enough to...
Bill’s turn: Friday, the day before the wedding. When I pulled my company car (they gave me a sedan instead of a mini-van, last time around) into my driveway, my little SUV was already there. Haley’s driving it now. Insurance? Screw ‘em. Tomorrow I’ll send ‘em a notification that I’m married and my WIFE is driving it. I’ve seen Haley’s driving. She’s careful. Thought we could risk it. I walk in to see Haley and Deena sitting on the sofa. That’s not an unusual thing. I’ve had the two of them...
Bill’s turn: I’m lying in bed in circumstances I only dreamed of vaguely in my hormone-pumped adolescence, a naked teen cutie on either side of me. The only reason we weren’t sticky was that we’d licked and sucked each other clean. “You’re thinking, aren’t you, baby?” the brown-headed one asks me. The silent one nestled again my chest on the other side is blonde, and her hand is idly fondling my depleted dick. “I am...” Deena exhaled. “Lemme guess ... You’re in the aftermath of orgasm,...
Deena’s turn: Cindy let the prop stop spinning before she jumped out. “Bathroom!” she said. I ran along with ‘er to the office. I have a key. “There!” “Thanks!” and she hit the restroom. From behind the door came, “What y’all got to drink?” “Choices,” I said. “Look in the fridge.” The door popped back open. “Coffee! Shouldn’t’ve had the second mug.” “You coulda let Mandy watch the cockpit and you coulda used that bucket...” “Haven’t had to resort to the bucket yet, besides, rated pilot...
Deena’s turn: This happens pretty often. Haley and I get home after a day on campus. Some days we go to the office, others we come home. Today’s a ‘home’ day. Haley’s ‘little brother’ was in the yard when we pulled up. Naturally, he saw us, waved. “Haley, I wanna show you my report card!” “C’mon,” Haley yelled back. He visits us two or three times a week. Haley and I treat him like the little brother he is. Happily, he’s well behaved and adjusting to school quite well. We made a big...
Bill’s turn: Surprises. That’s what I need in my life. More surprises. Marrying Haley? Not a surprise. It’s going to happen. The little brown-haired darlin’ treats it as inevitable. Since she’s got me wrapped around her little finger, I guess it really is inevitable. She’s the one that broke the news to Deena in a roundabout manner. When I called Deena to talk with her about us getting married, she launched into me about what she’d heard at school. So, okay – daughter’s good with it....
Bill’s turn: Sometimes I think that a big bit of enjoyment in my life is just seeing what’s gonna happen next. Like the new airfield. That’s becoming the new office. That’s becoming the new homesite. All that sort of makes sense. Except for the fact that OUR local office will be located at the airfield, the mode is much like the Alabama operation. So what happens next? Somebody brings in an old biplane. Then somebody comes and takes the old biplane away. And Dan Richards and I are talking...
Deena’s turn: I’m in a video session with Rachel over the progress with our new hand. It’s sitting on a mount on the lab bench, a bowl of candy in front of it, mixture of M&Ms, jelly beans and spice drops. Three different candies, all colored, but the average two year old can choose one over the other. The hand’s reaching into the bowl, picking up a candy, depositing it into one of the three bowls set off to the side. “It DOES know...” she said. “How?” “Color’s optical, natch,” I...
Still Bill’s turn: Doctor Seavers raised an eyebrow. “I accept your premise, Miss Haley...” “Mizz,” she said, showing her wedding band. I’m thinking that just maybe Haley’s feisty side might be less than profitable here. “Yes. I apologize. But accepting your premise, would you be up to a little examination by our own faculty, just to validate Auburn’s findings?” Okay ... Here comes Haley the Berzerker now, swinging a war hammer. “Yessir. Bring it on. But let’s make it interesting. If I...
Bill’s turn: Deena’s comment about fourteen year old girls startled me. “Huh?” “Cindy was fourteen when she got married, Dad...” “We could’ve gotten married before I turned sixteen, baby,” Haley said, “just like Nikki did. Or Cindy. If we’d’ve convinced a judge...” “Ewwww!” Deena squeaked. I glanced over. The eyes didn’t match the squeal. I get the feeling that just maybe my daughter might believe that her stepmom and I might have had relations before she turned sixteen. Another...
Haley’s turn: Poor Bill. I should let him surprise us every now and then, because I know it brings him joy. I mentioned this once when he and I and Deena were relaxing on the bed in one of those sticky aftermaths. “I thought I was going to surprise you two,” he said, his breathing becoming regular. “We’re hard to surprise about work stuff. We know what they know over there, and THEY know everything.” So today Bill walks in from his road trip and we smother him. “We’re packing bags,”...
Deena’s turn: When we got off the plane, there was a herd of those four-wheeled utility carts waiting. Terri, whom I recognized from the Internet, saw me and waved frantically. “Deena! Come ride with me!” That’s how your weekend gets interesting. I didn’t see a reason to think that a thirteen year old girl would kidnap me for nefarious purposes, so I told Haley that I was going with Terri. “Okay, sister,” I said, sitting down beside her. “Where’re we going?” “The pavilion. Food and music...
Bill’s turn: Cindy’s words – “Deena. What are you gonna do with that?” came back up in my head when I was back in the office. There’s a sheaf of drawings for a project. Can’t help it. Huge monitor on my desk, but there’s just something about that stack of paper and penciled notes. And time to think. Deena. The ‘Deena’ who still calls me ‘Dad’ even in the middle of sex, either just the two of us or in the midst of a no-holds-barred threesome. The Deena whom I love in so many ways, my almost...
Haley’s turn: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been sitting in OUR SUV heading out for an overnight with my Bill. I was nervous the first time, I mean, after all, going out of town with a guy to stay at a hotel, you just KNOW you’re gonna go to bed with him, and when it’s me and my Bill, that’s a felony. This time, though, I’m not nervous. I’m giddy. The difference? One more time I hold my left hand up, looking at the gold band around my ring finger. I’m married. Sixteen. Married. And...
Haley’s turn: Add another happy student to our mix. Deena’s friend Emily, like I said, was also no dummy. She and Deena both took the tests as part of a program by some university to spot gifted students. “How’d Emily do?” I asked Deena. “Twenty-seven,” Deena replied. “Her mom ‘n’ dad are gonna be proud.” “So will yours, you know...” “Dad, for sure,” she said. “Mom will be excited because I’m excited, but I don’t think she sees all this school stuff as that important like Dad does.” I...
Haley’s turn: I looked at my tinkling iPhone. Call from Carlita. “Hey, new sister!” I said. “Hello, Haley. I assume that since you answered your phone, you are not at school.” I looked at my Bill. He’s still flushed. I imagine I am, too. Got tingles. Smiled. “No, I’m visiting my husband at his new office,” I said. “What’s up?” “I have no classes this afternoon. I thought that perhaps we could meet and talk.” “I’d love that,” I said. “I have to pick up Deena after school, but right now,...
Deena’s turn: “Oh, sure. You tick off the head of the Engineering Department and then you throw me in there like throwing a bone to a pack of wolves,” I said. I was faking. I did this in front of Dad, for the benefit of him and Haley. I have to keep ‘em off balance or they’ll take advantage of me. “I TOLD you,” Haley sighed, feigning enough exasperation as was necessary to counterbalance my theatrics, “he’s talking about making us students here and at Auburn. Mizz Aneeta is coming next...
Bill’s turn: The boss is coming. Well, 1.5 bosses. And Dan Richards is among equals, he being one of the three that started 3Sigma, according, as the story goes, to an idea brewed up in the first meeting of Cindy and Tina. And of course, we DO have a CEO, Anders Solheim, father of Johanna, father-in-law to Stoney Jackson, one of our engineers. Silly place – other than calling Anders CEO, the place has NO titles among the engineering staff, making me one among equals. The “0.5” is Cindy,...
Sandy’s turn: I can’t help thinking that I’m seeing something, but maybe not. I know about Dave and Carlita and Brindy. Three people. One house. And my friends Deena and Haley and Bill. Three people, one house, although Deena’s supposed to be Bill’s daughter, but sometimes when I’m talking to Deena and Haley, there’s just a flash of ‘these two are related’ in the back of my perception. And I notice that Deena’s of the age where she should be showing at least a passing interest in boys. I...
Haley’s turn: I’m lying back in Bill’s arms. Part of me is still incandescent, despite all the moisture, and I am happier today than any day in my life. I’ve had some really happy days to compare this to, you know. Bill and I are getting married. I knew it a long time ago. I just never saw Bill as somebody who’d play with my heart and NOT continue until one of us died. I knew, too, that he’s had a great relationship with his daughter Deena, my FRIEND Deena, and that her disapproval of our...
Deena’s turn: They did it! Married. I did it! Left Mom’s and moved in with Dad ‘n’ Haley. Momentous. That’s Dad rubbing off on me. Dad actually has a vocabulary and likes to use it. Exercise it. I get that from him and I get odd looks and little remarks from my contemporaries (another ‘Dad’ word, okay?) and sometimes strange looks from adults, especially my teachers. When Haley picked me up after school, she gave me the news. “Your mom talked with your dad. We’re supposed to go get you...
Haley’s turn: So I’m supposed to meet Carlita at Starbucks. That’s a laugh. It’s convenient to the campus, usually filled with students, but we can usually get a little table to talk. What we talk about is the clientele, quite often. Wanna get hit on? Show up at that Starbucks and sit there with your MacBook open. If you’re with your sister or your female friend, that’s no impediment. I get there first, so I grab a table. I’ve got my computer open when I hear “There she is” in that lilt of...
Bill’s turn: Flying is a sidebar right now. In a matter of months since I stepped onto the 3Sigma merry-go-round, it keeps spinning faster and faster. Still, though, it IS a merry-go-round, and is, therefore, by definition, ‘FUN’. “It’s fun,” I told Maddie as she brought me a Fed-Ex document envelope. “This one’s eight million dollars. We’ll make two after we buy and install.” She smiled. “Dad says a lot of things’re fun when they’re showing seven figures.” I smiled. “Even more fun when...
Haley’s turn: It was a nice office. I’ve walked into a few offices at school, like our guidance counselor’s office. Big desk. Person sitting behind it. Position of authority is demonstrated and settled by first impression. I guess it makes some people more comfortable that way. Not this one. Short, Indian (from INDIA) lady in a dress that was elegant in understatement on her. She came from around her desk, hugged Cindy like a daughter, then turned to me. “I am Doctor Aneeta Patel. Cindy...
Bill’s turn: On the road again. I knew that 3Sigma was going to be a different work environment. In the previous position I spent some time on the road, but it was at the request of my employer, and wasn’t that frequent. Now it was driving my own schedule. Oh, okay, there’re the phone calls from the guys in Alabama when they get a request from somebody in my area, and my area’s looking like a chunk of East Texas and Louisiana and heaven knows we’ve got a bucket-load of heavy industry as...
Haley’s turn: Giggle. “You always look like a bug!” That’s Deena’s comment when I have a soldering iron in one hand and a pair of tweezers in the other and a pair of magnifying viewers on, trying to solder a teeny tiny little wire to a teeny tiny little pad on a circuit board on the lab bench in front of me. “That’s okay,” I said. “Next time you’re jumping around with your burnt finger in your mouth, the video’s going on YouTube.” “This is why Dad says he likes power engineering.” “Oh, I...
Haley’s turn: I was almost looking forward to sparring with Lance about testing through a mid-level engineering course but Deena got to ‘im first. As in, I walked into his office, he threw his hands up, said, “Thursday, one PM. You and that evil blonde thing you run around with...” “It’s that easy?” “Ain’t supposed to be, but Deena says you two...” “Seriously, Lance, we read the book. We quizzed each other...” The guy actually SIGHED. “I stand in front of a class for a semester,...
Bill’s turn: Reputation. A lot of this business is about reputation, at least among us engineers and managers of engineers. You know somebody who’s going to do you a good job, that’s who you get. Get the bean-counters and the MBAs involved, though, and then you start talking about trying to get the bid low enough to get the job, and sometimes that’s at the expense of the good equipment in favor of the cheaper stuff, or cutting the cost of your contractors to where the good ones won’t even...
Haley’s turn: Sitting here in the corner of the Tech room/lab at the new office. I have an hour before I have to go get Deena off campus unless she grabs a ride from Sandy. That’s a likely scenario. Between me, Sandy, Brindy and Carlita, there are enough drivers, and usually SOMEBODY will pick up Deena just for the conversation. Deena’s good for that, too. I’m undecided as to what I want to do. Over there in the corner of the bench is a computer and monitor. It’s connected to the...
Mizz Patel’s turn: “Thank you, Doctor Seavers, for allowing me this visit,” I said. I know, this sounds so deferential. My mother drilled into me that a little subservience is often the key to opening doors, so I determined from previous conversation with this man that it would be a good approach. What do I gain? Position. Certainly not for ME. My position within Auburn University is set. I am comfortable, my reputation enhanced by the fact that some of the students I recruited, the...
Haley’s turn: Terri looks like a gem. Smiles. I remember my own turn at the wedding thing. I can totally understand. She’s fourteen and getting ready to be married. That’s perfectly fine with me. When I was fourteen I considered myself married as well. And we all know about Cindy. While there were quite a few people there at the dinner that I didn’t know, I could tell they’ve been in on this before, with the exception of a couple introduced by Alan as his pastor and wife. They were absorbed...
Haley’s turn: Deena had me pinned. We used to play-wrestle sometimes, and for a while it was an even match, but I stopped growing. Deena’s bigger than me now. And she’s got me pinned. Oh, it’s just in fun, you know. She’s laughing. I’m laughing. “I know what’s wrong with you,” I squealed in protest. “Okay, smart girl,” she returned. “Tell me.” “You wanna be me. You’re fourteen, you’re obsessed with sex, and you’re horny!” “Am not!” she protested. She was straddling me, had my wrists...
Bill’s turn: Leave town for two nights and the whole place falls apart. I come home, meet my wife and daughter at the airport and they aren’t the bouncy things I left behind me. A DNA test. When the girls came up with the idea, I knew that protests on my part would only lead to questions as to why. Early in my marriage to Deena’s mom, very early, she started straying. It ripped me apart. I was in love. I don’t know what SHE was in, but I suspected that it was other beds and back seats of...
Haley’s turn: Note to self – webpage. Wonder if DukesField or Dukes_Field is available for a URL. Get with Mister Dukes for an oral history, maybe some old pictures. And some ‘now’ pictures. Gotta get some for today’s arrivals. Got some from the old Stearman, plenty of ‘before’ when we took over and got the renovations started. Friday morning, after classes on campus ... Well, not traditional classes – more of those conversations with teaching assistants over coursework. Those usually end...
Haley’s turn: “I have a forty-two year old white male, unconscious, with a fever of one-oh-three.” “Uh, can you get ‘im to the ER?” “Unconscious, but we can try...” “If you can’t, call us back.” Deena was watching. “Tax dollars at work,” I said. I poked Bill. “Baby?” A moan. “We’re hauling you to the ER.” “Dressed...” “Get ‘is shorts, Deena.” Took two of us to get his shorts on. I got the car up close to the door. Took both of us to maneuver him into the back seat. “Wallet,”...
Haley’s turn: Today’s a flying lesson. I sort of feel bad, because Deena’s too young for her student license, but when I think about it, I remember that the nasty little thing got Cindy to let her fly ultralights while I was being Munchkined. “Okay, Haley,” Rob Stinson said. “Let’s see how much you’ve forgotten.” “I hope it’s not much,” I replied. “I’m ready to solo.” He folded his arms after we strapped into the Cessna 172. “Show me.” After our wheels left the runway, I asked him,...
Haley’s turn: Maybe I never paid attention. It’s a possibility that I’ve seen them out there and just never noticed. What am I talking about? Geniuses. Magical creatures. People who operate outside the normally expected boundaries. Like the pilot and co-pilot of the plane we’re flying. The pilot’s eighteen and the co-pilot’s nineteen and they’re both females and I understand that women have been freed from the old stereotypes and all that, but that’s a theoretical ‘I know’ that you put in...
Haley’s turn: Almost out in the country. Well, actually, it still IS out in the country, except the city’s expanding, growing towards it. Our land. Not actually OUR land, but 3Sigma’s land, and since my Bill and Carlita and Brindy’s Dave ARE 3Sigma in southwest Louisiana, it just as well be OUR land. Two hundred acres. A four thousand (actually 3800)foot airstrip, turf, and enough land on the east side for several home sites. It’s Friday afternoon. Me and Deena and Brindy and Carlita are...
Haley’s turn: I wouldn’t trade this past weekend for the world, but I am also very glad to be back home. When we pulled into the driveway, I got out, went over and said ‘hi’ to Mom and Steve and little Stevie. Deenan did a similar move, calling her mom, announcing that she’d cheated death at the hands of a general aviation pilot. “Mom, I never imagined that I’d get to travel like we just travelled,” I heard her say. “And I got to FLY an ultralight airplane all by myself. Mom, it was...